Senators vow shakeup in state prisons / System seen as overly influenced by money, politics

Mark Martin, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau

Published
4:00 am PDT, Friday, July 11, 2003

2003-07-11 04:00:00 PDT Sacramento -- A stalled probe into allegations that guards at a state prison in Chino beat up shackled inmates has two state senators vowing to shake up operations of California's enormous correctional system.

In a nearly five-hour Capitol hearing that included accusations of assault, retaliation and the unfair clout of one of the state's most powerful unions, whistle-blowers who work for the Department of Corrections characterized the department as being overly influenced by money and politics.

Agents who tried to investigate the alleged Chino beating testified that they were stymied by the department, the union that represents prison guards, and an obscure clause in a contract between Gov. Gray Davis that has been criticized for being overly generous to the guards. The agents also said they'd been punished since the probe for pursuing the case too aggressively.

One investigator with 21 years of experience in the department has spent the past 10 months with virtually no job duties, biding his time in a windowless room after being reassigned. Another 16-year veteran said his duties had also changed, and he was being paid $37 an hour to do clerical work.

"The integrity of our corrections system is seriously in question," said state Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, who has held a series of hearings on the corrections department with state Sen. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough. "There's a need for a real shakeup."

Past hearings have detailed how more than 100 corrections workers have been on paid leave for months and how retired prison employees receiving state pensions are hired back to work part-time in the department.

On Thursday, eight witnesses shared their versions of a controversy that began at the California Institution for Men in Chino (San Bernardino County) on May 9, 2002. In an alleged incident that included as many as 20 guards, some participating and some watching, five prisoners whose hands and feet were bound were slammed to the ground, beaten and kicked.

Internal affairs agents for the corrections system launched a criminal investigation, according to Special Agent Richard Feaster. A recording of an informant provided especially damning evidence, agents said Thursday.

"I know I had enough to make arrests," Feaster said.

But the probe quickly ran into trouble.

Using a clause in their contract with the state, the California Correctional Peace Officers Association began demanding that agents share the evidence being amassed against guards. Agents were concerned that the case would be compromised if union officials learned who key witnesses were.

The contract the CCPOA signed with Davis has received publicity mostly because some analysis show that it will give guards 37 percent raises during the next few years. But the contract includes many other provisions, including allowing guards to obtain information being collected against them.

Edward Alameida, director of the Department of Corrections, testified Thursday that he had ordered the investigation be turned over to the attorney general's office to keep the evidence from the union.

But Feaster and two other agents said Thursday they believed Alameida might have been helping the union get the evidence. One agent said a corrections official had told him that Davis, who has received more than $3 million in campaign contributions from the union since 1998, also was involved.

"He told me that the governor did not want this issue with the CCPOA to become a major issue," said Agent Steve Mihalyi.

The investigation was eventually turned over to the attorney general's office, but no charges have been filed.

The union and state negotiators are heading into an arbitration hearing next week to hash out whether the evidence should be handed over to the union. That ruling could have a profound impact on future prison investigations.

An official with the CCPOA did not return a phone call for comment.

Agents said Thursday that soon after the probe was taken out of their hands,

department officials had begun retaliating against them.

Mihalyi has been the subject of a 10-month probe into accusations that he made an improper hire at the corrections office he ran in Southern California. He was reassigned to work out of the Chino prison -- the same place he had been investigating - where he has nothing to do. Feaster has been required to take on clerical duties, and another agent, Robert Maldonado, also was investigated for wrongdoing; the charge was dropped.